I chewed my bottom lip, biting back a retort. She had to be just as tired as I. She had done most of the work after all.
Whipping open the passenger door, she helped me in. I say help, but it was really more like boosted. Scrambling around the car, she hopped into the driver seat and roared the car to life. “Buckle up. We’re in for a bumpy ride.”
I hoped she wasn’t being literal, because that escape had wiped me out. I was dying for some caffeine. Starbucks. Hmm. My mouth watered.
I must have made a noise or something, because Emma barked, “Get your head out of the clouds. We still need to make it through the gate before we do a victory dance.”
I didn’t know about her, but I was most definitely not in the mood to dance. However, I was worried about the massive chain gate we were headed full throttle for. “Do you have a plan for that?” I asked, shifting restlessly in my seat.
“Yeah.” She punched the gas pedal in her SUV. “You’re wearing your seatbelt right?”
“Uh-huh.”
She never took her gaze off the road. “Good, because it is about to get...rough.”
I guess it had been literal. Emma’s plan was going to kill us. Wasn’t that a laugh? I was going to die not in captivity, but during the rescue. Gripping the oh shit handles in the SUV, I braced myself for what I knew was coming.
Emma steered the SUV straight for the locked chained gate at full speed. I was afraid to look at the speedometer, better I not know what insane speeds she was driving. The impact was nothing you could prepare for, and I’ve been in my fair share of car accidents, mind you they have all been since I moved to Spring Valley.
It threw me forward, the seatbelt stretched against my chest painful, and then I was tossed jarringly back against the seat. I felt my head snap back and the sound was deafening, but the SUV barreled through like a tank.
I could have kissed Emma, I was that overjoyed to still be alive and in one piece.
We drove down a private road, crowded with towering oak trees, never slowing our speed. My stomach churned, cycling with a mixture of disbelief, anxiety, fear, and hope. We were smack dab in the middle of no-man’s-zone and I could taste the finish line.
At the end of the paved road, we hooked a right heading for the interstate.
Heading for home.
I took a few silent moments to savor my exhilaration. And then I looked at Emma’s profile, still in complete shock by what we had done. What she had done. Her strawberry-blonde hair was pulled back into a tight-no-fuss ponytail. It made her eyes look like two big emeralds. Much like her dad’s had been. She was dressed in all black.
“Spill,” I ordered, laying my head against the seat. “I don’t get it. Not that I am not eternally grateful, but why would you help me?”
She shrugged, keeping her eyes glued to the highway as we cruised along. “My plans differ from my father’s,” she said like it wasn’t a big deal, but I knew better. Then she added, “And your boyfriend is really freaking scary.”
Technically he wasn’t my boyfriend, but I didn’t correct her. It sounded too nice. “Chase,” I supplied just to be clear.
She snorted. “Obviously. Unless you are dating more than one half-breed.”
A small smile broke on my lips. “I don’t think Chase would let him live.”
She handled the SUV like a pro. “That we can agree on. He is a force to be reckoned with and he knows it.” Subtlety wasn’t exactly in Chase’s vocab. “When he figured out where you where stashed, he–”
“Chase found me?” I cut her off.
She glanced at me and grinned. “You bet your ass. That man is like a machine. He has been looking non-stop since you disappeared five days ago. And by non-stop, I mean all day, everyday. I don’t think he has slept.”
“It’s only been five days?” To me it had seemed so much longer. More like five months.
She nodded and for the first time I saw something else beside judgment in her green eyes. I saw understanding. “Once he narrowed your location last night, he went ballistic – ape shit crazy. He wanted to storm the building and go all demon nuts. Basically get us all killed, including you. It took Travis, Sierra, Craig, and Hayden to hold him back. I didn’t think they were going to be able to do it. If he hadn’t been playing with all of our lives, I would have been impressed. Never have I seen anyone with so much…power. It was frightening. Thank God I brought a tranq.”
“Wait. What?” I had to have heard her wrong. “You tranquilized him?” I gave her a have you lost your freaking mind stare.
Oh boy was he going to be pissed.
She got the message. “You don’t have to tell me. I know he is going to chop me to pieces the first chance he gets. It’s why I’m hoping that breaking you out will earn me some brownie points, or at least save my hide.”